Mikah Bailey Amy Richardson ENG 200-001 04 October 2018 Proposal Essay Video games always provide a great pass time activity for children

Mikah Bailey Amy Richardson ENG 200-001 04 October 2018 Proposal Essay Video games always provide a great pass time activity for children

Mikah Bailey
Amy Richardson
ENG 200-001
04 October 2018
Proposal Essay
Video games always provide a great pass time activity for children. These games are so many and so addictive that when a child is not controlled, he can spend all his time playing the games. The game a child plays can be a good or a bad thing in his life. For example, children who learn how to play chess at a tender age usually show signs of high levels of intellect. However, the same case does not apply for violent video games. Playing violent video games can make people more violent in real life. Many people disagree that violent video games cause behavior problems. It seems doubtful to some people that such violence and aggression can be caused from watching blinking lights on television screen.
Each new means of expression has been rebuked as the case of evil in the world such as books, art, and music. Some people even believe that violence is linked with aggressiveness and stress rather than with video game violence. Some might even say that if society could just put limits on X, it would have fewer problems with Y. That is not how life works. People who disagree that violent video games cause behavior problems believe that violence exists because people exist, but their logic is simply not enough. On the contrary, research on the concerning effects of video games is abundant and convincing. There is overwhelming evidence that witnessing and engaging in video game violence is predictive of increases in aggressive behavior. In fact, “children are especially at risk for experiencing the long-term psychological effects produced through exposure to violent games due to the age factor” (Jodi & Brad, 2009). As video games come more engaging, society spends ever-increasing amounts of time playing them. In the popular video game “Grand Theft Auto,” people have the power to solicit prostitutes and then kill them to get their money back, drive down the sidewalk of a virtual city mowing down pedestrians, run around attacking people at random, and all sorts of other demented activities that would be tragic in real life. These types of video games make these specific crimes seem okay. A recent study provides parents, physicians, and scientists with data proving that differences in brain function exist in teens that play violent video games, compared with those who do not. Dr. Matthews and his colleagues at Indiana University, Indianapolis, randomly assigned the adolescents to play either “Medal of Honor,” a violent video game, or “Need for Speed,” an equally exciting but nonviolent video game, for thirty minutes immediately before imaging.
The group that played the nonviolent game showed more activation in the frontal lobes, and the group that played the violent video game demonstrated less activation in the prefrontal lobes. There have been numerous studies since the 1970s demonstrating that adolescents exposed to violent media demonstrate aggressive behavior, but because the adolescents in the study were randomized into two similar groups, the findings go more directly to the question of causation than did previous research. Playing violent video games can alter men’s brain function, cause teens to drive recklessly, and can contribute to aggression. There have been multiple studies to prove that playing violent video games can alter men’s brain function. “Playing ‘shooter’ video games weakens the brains of young people and puts them at greater risk of dementia in later life, new research suggests” (Bodkin 2017). In one study, Dr. Matthews and his colleagues demonstrated the short-term effects of violent video games of brain functioning adolescents. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) revealed decreased activity in areas of the brain involved in inhibition and attention after thirty minutes of gametime. Dr. Matthews saw that there is a decrease in normal blood flow after a week of playing violent video games.
Violent video games could also lead teens to drive recklessly. Some researchers conducted phone interviews with more than five-thousand teenagers over the course of four years. Ninety percent of the teenagers they interviewed responded that they were engaged in risky driving habits, including speeding, tailgating, weaving through traffic, and running red lights. It is clear that the video game exposure preceded the risky driving because the study began when the participants were playing video games but were too young to drive. Numerous racing video games make it look cool to drive recklessly, which can cause a great impact on teens to drive in this manner. Lastly, video games can contribute to aggression. School shootings, such as the infamous event at Columbine High School, have stimulated interested in research on the violence of boys and men. One focus, the effects of violent video games on aggression, has begun to yield some empirical results. Today, videogames are highly engaging and interactive, putting players in a first-person perspective where they must make a decision to perform a violent act prior to performing the act. “Playing violent video games leads to more aggressive moods and behaviors and detracts from the player’s feeling of empathy and sensitivity to aggression” (American Psychiatric Association). This might be due to the fact that the mission in a majority of video games is to kill.
Video game violence is an increasing problem in today’s society with violence as one of the most popular themes. Playing violent video games alter men’s brain function, could cause teens to drive recklessly, and can contribute to aggression. Many people try to argue that there is a difference in the effects between behaviors after engaging with video games. To some, it seems doubtful that such violence and aggression can be caused from playing video games on a nineteen-inch television screen. There are others who totally disagree with that logic. People do not just watch video games, but they interact with them.